Day 21: Our Longest 125 Miles

February 28, 2006

No day without news from our laptop :) As if dealing with our hungover selves
was not a big enough thing for the morning, our laptop stopped working properly
again Just as soon as we turned it on, an avalanche of random "illegal
operations" came down on us. Once again, we though we were counting its
final minutes. And yet, after several hours of frantic troubleshooting and
praying, we came to the conclusion that the new problems were caused by the
memory chip, which all of the sudden went completely nuts. Apparently, the
wine therapy, followed by daily exposure to tropical heat, humidity and dust,
was more than the poor old thing could handle With the bad chip out,
the laptop got back to normal and presently works fine, if not to mention
that it takes us less time to cook dinner than to start up the web design
program.
Well, better slow laptop than no laptop :) The only really sad thing is that
before dying, the chip damaged some of our photos and managed to somehow completely
lose all the pics from Day 16.

Anyway, the sunny morning in San Cristobal felt even better than yesterday's
gloomy afternoon, so we decided to stay in town for another half day, and
then later in the evening drive the remaining 185 miles to the Guatemalan
border. The plan was to spend the night in Tapachula, the border town, and
cross into Guatemala tomorrow early in the morning. Little did we know at
that moment that the last segment of the road - the entire 125 miles of Mex
211 - had been heavily damaged by one of the recent hurricanes. What was supposed
to be a scenic effortless 2-hour drive through the Chiapas highlands - one
of the most beautiful regions of the country - turned into an 8-hour ordeal
at 15 mph Exceptionally scenic, no denying, just in a slightly different
way :) Tiny bits of pavement and leftovers of the washed away bridges, crushed
beyond repair, reminded there had been a road here some time ago. What was
left of it, however, was just a bunch of funky makeshift causeways and lots
of repair work all along the 125-mile stretch, frequently slowing down the
traffic to a complete stop.
Although there wasn't too much traffic at this late hour, it still took us
about 8 hours to get to Tapachula. It was well after midnight when we arrived
at the first hotel in town. Can't even remember the name of it, or how it
looked One thing for sure, it had some sort of a bed :)

Tip #1: When traveling through Chiapas toward the Guatemalan border,
by all means avoid Mex 211. Although Mex 211 is often described as one of
the most scenic highways and is the most direct route to the border, it's
at least a couple of years from now until it becomes functional again. For
the moment, a much faster alternative would be San Cristobal de las Casas
to Tuxtla Gutierrez to Tonala to Tapachula via Mex 200.

Cick on the pictures to enlarge

The charming streets of San Cristobal

Zavingosios San Cristobal'io gatves

Little streets, little cars

Mazos gatvytes - mazos masinytes

Quiet during the day, lively from dusk till dawn

Apgaulinga tyla pries vakaro surmuli

All of them are worth a lazy stroll

Tingus pasivaiksciojimas apsnudusiomis gatvemis

San Cristobal - just sitting there all surrounded by
gorgeous mountains and looking pretty...